In last week’s musings, I mentioned that 2nd Timothy 2:21 calls us “vessels of honour”
Click here if you missed that post, sis!
In light of the scripture above, it's something that we just tend to throw around as believers but I really wanted to know- What does it actually mean to be a vessel?
Here’s what I discovered:
Chile, this week has been a lot!
Like seriously…
Recently, I talked about the fact that faith increases our capacity to succeed
Click here if you missed that, sis!
But did you know that you have other capacities too?
For example:
A) Mental capacity
The ability to make your own decisions
B) Emotional capacity
The ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships
C) Physical capacity
The ability to perform a variety of physical tasks
In the wake of such trying times, we run the risk of running low in one or more of these capacities
Which will then have knock-on effects on our ability to walk in purpose because…
As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and this is really clearly illustrated in 2nd Kings 4:1-7
in which the woman literally took empty vessels, poured oil into them until they were full and then distributed the oil for profit.
2nd Timothy 2:21 says that we are “vessels of honour” so, like the widow did with hers, we need to make sure to fill ourselves up before we pour out to others. Here are 20 ways that I have been doing that this week:
Apart from the typical advice of praying and reading the Bible, in between, work, I have been doing one or more of the following each day:
Last week we talked about 3 disempowering life and business beliefs
Remember that, sis?
As we stand at the beginning of a new year, I think it’s important that we discuss how to make it a success
If you’re anything like me, you’ve entered this year with a set of goals and things that you would like to achieve
Here are 4 lessons that we can learn from the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7 about how we can do that:
Last week, we talked about the fact that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed
Remember that, sis?
The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God
which, according to The Parable of the sower, usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22)
But another way that it shows up is through a lack of belief in ourselves
For example-
When the woman approached Elisha to appeal to him for (divine) help in her situation (2nd Kings 4:1-7), I don’t think that she expected to be the answer to her own question or the solution to her own problem
Why?
Because she came to him talking more about the problem than what she might have or be able to do to solve it
In fact, it was not until Elisha asked her what she had in her house, that she even took inventory of what she had at all (2nd Kings 4:1-2)
As soon as she did take stock of what she had (a jar of oil), this precipitated the action that she took to activate her miracle
i.e. borrowing vessels from her neighbours, filling them up and selling them to the point that she could pay off her debts and “live on the rest” with her sons (2nd Kings 4:3-7)
So often, as modern women, we do the same thing
Cue edge snatching moment…
Last week, we talked about how to increase our capacity to succeed and the vital role that faith plays in allowing us to do this
Because:
Faith increases our capacity to receive from God,
The bigger your life, business or visibility goals- the bigger your faith will need to be
If that’s true, it follows that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed.
The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God.
According to The Parable of the sower, this usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22).
For the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7, it would have been easy- even expected- for her to lose faith in God
I mean, not only had her husband died- he left her with huge debt and creditors ready to make her sons slaves if she was unable to pay it off!
But she didn’t…
